Leucadia E-Waste Event Moved to April 19

The electronic waste recycling event at Paul Ecke School in Leucadia has been moved to April 19. To volunteer, email bill@surfridersd.org. Thanks!

Local Ordinance Update

from the Californians Against Waste Newsletter:

Santa Cruz County Moves Towards Going PS-Free
Santa Cruz County is close to becoming the first California county to go totally polystyrene-free. Santa Cruz County and City adopted polystyrene bans this month. Capitola has had a long-standing polystyrene ban. That leaves only two cities in the County where polystyrene takeout packaging is legal.


Action in Los Angeles County
As LA County begins the process of implementing its benchmark-or-ban approach to plastic bags, the Santa Monica City Council has directed its staff to draft the toughest plastic bag ordinance yet. Santa Monica's approach would ban plastic bags at all stores and could potentially require a fee for paper bags. Meanwhile, the City of Los Angeles is scheduled to have a joint committee hearing March 5 to take on several council motions that could potentially ban plastic bags and polystyrene in city limits. The City of Burbank is also contemplating a polystyrene ban. Long Beach has been considering several ordinances for several months.


Elsewhere...
Not to be outdone, several other Bay Area governments are considering plastic pollution measures. The City of Berkeley is poised to pass a bag ban; a similar ordinance is being considered in San Jose. Sonoma, Mendocino, Monterey and Santa Clara counties are all in the early stages of considering bans or reduction benchmark ordinances for plastic bags. San Mateo County is considering banning polystyrene in County facilities.

Santa Monica to Consider Plastic Bag Ban and Paper Bag Tax

See LA Times blog for full story: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/emeraldcity/2008/02/santa-monica-to.html

Next RAP Meeting Planned for March 25

I have tentatively scheduled the next Rise Above Plastics meeting for March 25 at 6:30 p.m. The location is yet to be determined. Please email me at elizabeth@surfridersd.org if you plan to attend, and let me know from what part of town you will be coming.

Plastic Bag Bans in other San Diego Cities?

A lot of people are interested in working on plastic bag bans in other cities in San Diego County. Other than the City of San Diego, which we are making an organized effort to approach with SD Coastkeeper and other enviro groups, you can start your own campaign to outlaw the pesky plastic bags. The first step would be to sit down with an enviro minded city council
member or his or her staff, and talk about the best way to get such an ordinance in front of the city council and get it passed. They may tell you that the only was is a voter referendum, or they may say that they need to see public support (this is
where the petitions come in). The process and attitude about such things vary by city, so meeting wiith decision makers is an
important first step. If you have an enviro city council member in your city, they should be able to help you come
up with an overall plan for what will work there. If you get something started, let us know and we will post it to solicit help from others in your community.

E-Waste Event April 5 in Leucadia

Surfrider San Diego Chapter will be co-sponsoring a e-waste recycling event at Paul Ecke Elementary School in Leucadia on April 5. We are looking for volunteers to help at the event and staff a Rise Above Plastics / Surfrider booth. Please email me if you can help out. elizabeth@surfridersd.org

Plastic Bag Ban to be Proposed in Encinitas

Surfrider San Diego volunteers are working on gathering signatures of Encinitas residents in support of a reduction or elimination of plastic bags from Encinitas stores. We plan to gather at least 3,000 to present to the Encinitas City Council on Encinitas Environment Day. If you want to help gather signatures, email me at elizabeth@surfridersd.org for the petition.

LA County Passes a Plastic Bag Ordinance

The LA County Board of Supervisors passed a plastic bag ordinance
yesterday. One of the links below includes the County's full report
on the issue (approx. 80 pages).

The main motion as well as all the suggested amendments passed; below
are the links to the specific language:
http://lacounty. info/bos/ sop/supdocs/ 36491.pdf
http://lacounty. info/bos/ sop/supdocs/ 36573.pdf
http://lacounty. info/bos/ sop/supdocs/ 36628.pdf

In addition the companion motion to push legislative fixes to AB 2449
also passed; here is the language for that:
http://lacounty. info/bos/ sop/supdocs/ 36209.pdf

Whole Foods to Stop Using Plastic Bags by Earth Day

Natural foods retailer Whole Foods has announced it will stop giving out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day due to the bags' ubiquity and associated environmental problems. The company is opting instead for bagging customers' groceries in 100 percent recycled paper bags and/or encouraging customers to bring their own reusable sacks. "More and more cities and countries are beginning to place serious restrictions on single-use plastic shopping bags since they don't break down in our landfills, can harm nature by clogging waterways and endangering wildlife, and litter our roadsides," said Whole Foods' A.C. Gallo. The grocery chain estimates that the plastic-bag ban at all its 270 stores in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. will eliminate the use of about 100 million plastic sacks between Earth Day and the end of 2008. All together, Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic bags each year.

China Bans Plastic Bags

Chinese authorities on Tuesday said they're outlawing the plastic shopping bag because of pollution and energy concerns.

China's State Council said the ban will start June 1. Firms that continue to sell, make and distribute bags thicker than 0.025 mm thick will be given fines and authorities may seize goods and profits, the State Council said.

"Our country consumes huge amounts of plastic bags every year. While providing convenience to consumers, they have also caused serious pollution, and waste of energy and resources, because of excessive use and inadequate recycling," the government said in a statement, according to Reuters.

"We should encourage people to return to carrying cloth bags, using baskets for their vegetables."

According to Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research group, plastic bags dissolve over 1,000 years. The group also estimates consumers worldwide toss about 500 billion plastic bags annually.

In March 2007, San Francisco became the first North American city to ban non-recyclable plastic bags made from petroleum products.


Later in April, the Manitoba town of Leaf Rapids became the first Canadian municipality to prohibit plastic sacks.

Other regions in South Africa, Ireland and Taiwan have placed additional fees and taxes on the bags to discourage use.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/01/08/china-bags.html